Doctor Who_ The Also People - Ben Aaronovitch [100]
FeLixi looked around, trying to recall the route; it had been thirty years since he'd come to this place. The trees were a little taller, the undergrowth thicker than he remembered.
'What's that smell?' asked Roz.
'Tree blossom,' said feLixi.
'It's worse than the inside of a knocking shop,' said Roz.
He took her hand, surprised at how small it felt in his, and led her carefully through the wild orchard. They had to take it slowly, feLixi telling Roz when to step over roots or around bushy tangles; the path barely existed any more. FeLixi was pleased because it meant that no one else had discovered this place. It was still his very own secret.
'How much further?' asked Roz.
'Almost there,' he told her.
They stopped at the edge of the orchard and feLixi slipped the blindfold off Roz's head. She looked around slowly. He wondered if he might have made a mistake, suddenly afraid that what had been magical for him wouldn't be for the strange, grim woman at his side.
'It's beautiful,' she said.
They were standing on the ragged fringes of a sheltered alpine meadow that undulated down to the banks of a river. A confusion of brightly coloured flowers grew amongst the long grass, clusters of pink nightwort and primrose droneleaf, yellowpetal and scarlet spindoctor. A single lopsided tree grew on the river bank, stretching gnarled limbs out over the cool green water.
Unbelievably feLixi saw that the rope he'd strung from the lowest limb all those years ago was still hanging, trailing its end in the water. Beyond the river the ground sloped steeply up to a ridge fringed with purple scree. The still air was heavy with the smell of blossom and the fragrance of the flowers.
'I'm almost afraid to step on the grass,' said Roz. She let go of his hand and bent down to pick a yellowpetal, her fingers hesitating a centimetre from the flower. 'I shouldn't take this, should I?'
'Why not?' asked feLixi. 'There are thousands of flowers.'
She snapped the stem and lifted the flower to her nose. She frowned. 'There's no smell,' she said, disappointed. He explained that yellowpetals had no fragrance. 'Oh,' she said. 'How typical.'
She tried to tuck the flower behind her ear but it fell out.
'Where would you like to sit?' asked feLixi.
'Down there,' she said, 'by the tree.'
FeLixi felt a tiny stir of disquiet: it had been aTraxi's favourite spot. 'This is the oldest landscaped part of the sphere,' he said, acutely aware that he was talking to cover his unease.
'None of this was designed – it all happened by deliberate accident.'
He reached out his hand. She glanced at him, her dark eyes guarded, but she let him take hers. He saw her delicate nostrils dilate and wanted desperately to touch them with the tip of his nose, to explore the streamlined contours of her face with his lips.
She turned away and pulled him down the slope towards the tree. They'd gone a few metres when suddenly Roz yelped and jerked her hand away from him. 'Look out,' she shouted,
'something just bit me.'
'Relax,' said feLixi quickly, 'it's just a thistle.'
Roz looked down at her leg. 'Oh, shit,' she said. 'What idiot put an aggressive plant there?'
'I told you,' said feLixi, – 'this area is completely natural. If you'd like to hop over there I'll pull the thorns out.'
He spread a blanket out by the tree and persuaded her to lie down and rest her leg in his lap.
The hamper had the usual integral first-aid kit; he removed the regen spray and laid it down by his foot.
'I don't know, Roz,' he said, 'a meadow full of flowers and you have to step on the only thistle.'
A cluster of arrow-headed thorns had pierced Roz's calf. Gently he took hold of the first between his thumb and forefinger and plucked it out.
'You said none of this was designed,' said Roz. 'Was it transported from your original homeworld?'
'We didn't have an original